CIRCULAR 



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PEOPLE'S COLLEGE, 



STATE OF NEW YORK, 



ACT OP INCORPORATIOJSr, PASSED APRIL 12th, 1853. 



NEW YORK: 
WYNKOOP, HALLENBECK & THOMAS, PRINTERS, 

113 FULTON STREET 
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PEOPLE'S COLLEGE, 




STATE OF NEW YORK, 



ACT OF INOOBPORATION, PASSED APRIL 12th, 1853. 





NEW YORK: 
WYNKOOP, HALLENBECK & THOMAS, PRINTERS, 

113 FULTON STREET 

18 5 8, 



PEOPLE'S COLLEGE. 



This Institution, of which a brief account here follows, was incor- 
porated by an Act of the Legislature of the State of New York, 
April 13th, 1854, and was located at the village of Havana, in 
Schuyler county, N. Y., January 8th, 1857. 

College Edifice. 

This will be spacious and imposing. Its length will be 320 feet, 
and its width 52 feet. It will be four stories high, with a basement. 
At either end will be a wing 20G feet long, 52 feet wide, and four 
stories high. 

From the centre will be a wing projecting rereward 68 feet; 64 
feet wide, and three stories high. The building will be surmounted 
by a cupola of an octagonal form, 36 feet in diameter and extending 
upwards 50 feet from the apex of the roof. A cupola is also to be 
placed on each of the end wings. The basement walls of the struc- 
ture are to be of stone ; the remaining portion of the walls are to be 
of brick. 

This building will contain a chapel of a capacity to seat thirteen 
hundred persons; 16 lecture rooms; 47 rooms for the president, 
professors, secretary, treasurer, &c., and 220 chambers for students, 
each being arranged for the accommodation of two persons. It 
will also contain a culinary department, and rooms for the steward, 
servants, (fee. The estimated cost of it, when finished, is 8175,000, 

Plan of the College. 

It is the intention of the Trustees to make this Institution not only 
the best so far as practical knowledge is concerned, but to afford 
opportunities to all who may desire them, for obtaining as thorough 
a knowledge of all that pertains to science or literature, as any other 
institution in the world. The People's College is to be eminently 



an educational Institution, and, as such, it will seek the attainment 
of its purpose by means which experience has proved to be the most 
appropriate. The Creator has subjected the human mind to laws, 
and its faculties must be developed and refined, not only by syste- 
matic practice, but by both systematic and definite practice. And, 
for the information some who of may have been solicitous on the 
subject, it is here added, that, in this College there will be taught, as 
means of mental discipline, full courses of study in pure and mixed 
Mathematics, in the ancient and modern Languages, Geography, His- 
tory, Astronomy, Mechanics, Esthetics, Mental and Moral Philosophy 
and the Bible. As Lord Bacon has said, the Trustees of this Col- 
lege believe, that " The sole cause and root of almost every defect in 
the sciences is, whilst we falsely admire and extol the powers of the 
human mind, we do not search for its real helps." 

This College will be distinguished from others by giving promi- 
nence to studies, suited to qualify its graduates for discharging the 
practical duties of life, and to means of elevating labor. 

The College is situated on a farm of 200 acres, adjoining the vil- 
lage of Havana, and within a few hundred rods of the centre of the 
village, in the near vicinity of churches, post-ofiice, stores, hotels, &c., 
and suitable work-shops are to be attached. Here, then, the student 
who determines to become a farmer or a mechanic, may study agri- 
culture by laboring on the farm under the direction of a practical 
scientific farmer, from two to four hours of each of five days in every 
week, or may pursue the business of his choice, under a practical 
mechanic, for the same number of hours ; and devote the remaining 
portion of each day to such branches of study as are most essentially 
necessary to the future business of his life ; or to the common and 
higher branches of a literary course. 

With the aid of machinery and material, it is believed, that stu- 
dents in the mechanical department may not only become better 
mechanics in the same term of apprenticeship, than at our shops as 
now conducted, and obtain the education so essential to their future 
success in life, but that they may, from the avails of their labor, de- 
fray a large proportion, if not all, the expenses incurred in the course ; 
obtaining thus the satisfaction to know, that they have worked 
their way through college, got a trade, and have been graduated inde- 
pendent men. And the same remarks, with no modification in the 
principle, will apply to students in the agricultural department. 



Here, likewise, persons of mature life, and such as do not desire 
to pursue a regular course of study in the college, either the more 
extended or an abbreviated course, may resort to secure the advan- 
tages of the regular courses of Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry, 
Oeology, iMechanics, and the Sciences generally (providing the 
means of doing it, if they choose, by vporking on the farm or in the 
shops), and become familiar with those branches of science most 
essential in their respective avocations. 

Motives which have Prompted to the Organization of the 
Institution. 

a. The belief that moneys which will be expended on this Institu- 
tion, would not, without its existence, be used to promote the cause 
of learning, and that many of the youth who will be educated here 
would never find a place within other college walls. 

b. The fact that the important work to be done in this country, to 
sustain our various institutions, political, civil, domestic and reli- 
gious, and to advance civilization, is to educate the people. 

c. The belief that a modification of the college system of this 
country is required, to adapt it more perfectly to the wants of the 
time. 

When Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, Princeton, Bowdoin, 
and the other older Colleges of the country were established, it was 
for a state of society different from our own. Within the last half 
century the wealth of this nation has greatly increased. The field 
of the sciences has been much enlarged, and knowledge has been 
much augmented. What was theoretical is now made practical : 
all which manifestly combine to make mental discipline and scien- 
tific research, that might formerly be accounted of little advantage, 
necessary to the successful performance of the duties and business 
of life. 

d. The complete success of Seminaries established in European 
countries for the promotion of the sciences and useful arts, on plans 
similar to that of the People's College. 

e. Institutions of this character, it is perceived, generally estab- 
lished, would perfect our common school system, by affording all 
an opportunity of continuing their education while learning a trade 
or pursuing agriculture ; thus remedying the great evil which now 
compels a large proportion of our vonth to discontinue their scien- 



tific and literary education at the age of twelve or fourteen yeare, in 
order to become farmers or mechanics. 

Moral Instruction. 

This College is located on a farm in the country, removed from 
the corrupting influences of large cities. The Society will be com- 
posed of the Professors in the various departments and.their fami- 
lies, together with the families of such as may locate in the immedi- 
ate vicinity, for the purpose of educating their children, and the 
people of Havana, a village of about fifteen hundred inhabitants. 
Students will, therefore, be surrounded by a healthful moral influ- 
ence and restraint, and every effort, suggested by Sevelation, a know- 
ledge of the human mind, and experience, will be made to give them 
a high-toned moral training. 

Physical Education. 

By a law of nature, it is made necessary that the young should 
have regular daily exercise, in a pure and healthful atmosphere, to 
properly develop the human system, and to estaj^lish such a strong 
and vigorous constitution as will enable them to endure excessive 
physical or mental labor, without permanently injuring health. This 
important branch of education is, from the necessity of .the case, 
almost entirely omitted in our Colleges and higher Seminaries, and 
the result is, that many of the most diligent students graduate with 
an enfeebled constitution or broken health. To remedy this great 
defect, to elevate labor, and enable the poor to avail themselves of 
advantages heretofore chiefly enjoyed by the wealthy, our charter 
requires students and teachers to devote two hours each, of five days 
in every week, to bona fide labor, in some branch of productive 
industry. 

Progress of the Work, 

The College was organized on the 12th day of August, 1857, when 
the Eev. Amos Brown vras chosen President. Funds have been sub- 
scribed to such an amount as to insure the rapid completion of the 
college edifice (the foundation walls of which are laid), and the 
speedy collection at Havana of the full College Faculty. The Col- 
lege, it is expected, will be in successful operation by the expiration 
of one year from next September. It is, however, an undertaking 



necessarily requiring large outlays of money, and there is much to be 
done to complete it. The edifice will be costly, then shops are to 
be built, machinery, apparatus, library, cabinets, etc., to be supplied ; 
and especially provision is to be made to sustain the College Fac- 
ulty, which must be large, and, to answer the designs of the Institu- 
tion, be composed of none but thoroughly educated and efficient 
men. 

Situation and Access. 

Havana is situated at the head of Seneca Lake, on the Chemung 
Railroad, which connects the villages of Elmira and Canandaigua. 
The Chemung Canal also passes through the place. The site is 
uncommonly picturesque and pleasing, as well as convenient of ac- 
cess from all parts of the country. 

Passing now from this brief exposition of our purposes and plans, 
we solicit from all, who may read, a careful examination of our Char- 
ter ; and if convinced that our plans are practicable, and, when carried 
out, will stimulate to a more general effort to obtain the advantages 
of mental discipline and useful knowledge, and will afford to many 
the benefits of an education, who, but for the College, could never 
obtain them, we ask them, as philanthropists, to lend their influ- 
ence and " material aid" to complete the work ; for, if such an In- 
stitution is desirable, why shall it not be, at once., built and en- 
dowed ? 

Charter. 

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and 
Assembly, do enact as follotos : 

§ 1. D. C. McCallum, Washington Hunt, George J. Pumpelly, 
J. R. Speed, S. S. Post, F. Price, David Reese, Gurdon Evans, 
Horace Greeley, James H. Snell, A. W. Jackson, Harrison Howard, 
William Morgan, T. Lindsley, A. I. Wynkoop, W. C. Rhodes, H. W. 
Smuller, James M. Ellis, Jamin F. Backus, William H. Banks, J. 
J. De Forest, J. G. Russell, Oliver G. Steele, Robert Green, and their 
associates, present or future, are hereby constituted a body corporate, 
by the name of " The People's College," for the purpose of promoting 
literature, science, arts and agriculture. 



8 2", Tlie said corporation shall have power to sue and to be sned^ 
to' make and use a common seal, and alter the same at pleasure, to 
hold real and personal property ; hut it shall not at any one time 
own real estate yielding an annual income exceeding twenty-fiA^e 
thousand dollars, and make and alter by-laws for the government of 
the said college, and its officers and students. 

§ 3, The persons named in the first section of this act shall be 
the first trustees of the corporation, thirteen of whom shall constitute 
a quorimi for the transaction of business, and they shall hold office 
for one year, and until others are appointed as hereinafter mentioned ;. 
and any vacancy which may occur in said board of trustees may be 
filled by them at any regular meeting of the said board. The pre- 
sident of the college, for the time being, shall be, ex-officio, a mem- 
ber of the board of trustees, 

§ 4, The said board of trustees shall appoint the president, pro- 
fessors, and such other officers and instructors as they deem necessa- 
ry ; but no president, professor, or other officer of the college shall 
be appointed or removed, and no real estate bought or sold, except 
by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the board, 

§ 5. The said corporation may grant to students under its charge^ 
diplomas and honorary testimonials in such form as it may designate } 
but such diploma or honorary testimonial shall expressly specify the 
branches which the student has mastered,, and those only. It may 
also confer such literary honors,, degrees and diplomas as are usually 
conferred by any university, college, or seminary of learning in the 
United States^ which diplomas shall entitle the possessors thereof to- 
the immunities and privileges allowed by usage or statute to the 
possessors of like diplomas from any university, college or seminary 
of learning in the state, provided that no diploma shall be conferred 
but in confoi-mity with the laws of the state in force at the time of 
conferring the same, 

§ 6. The capital stock of said corporation shall consist of two^ 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which may be increased by a 
majority of the trustees, from time to time, to five hundred thousand 
dollars ; the said stock shall be in shares of one dollar each, and ' 
every stockholder shall be entitled to but one vote in the choice ot 
trustees, or any other business which may be determined by the 
votes of the stockholders. 

§ 1. Whenever the sum of fifty thousand dollars shall be sub- 



9 

scribed and paid to the trustees of the said corporation, it shall be 
the duty of the said trustees to call a meeting of the said stock- 
holders at some convenient place in the central part of the state, by- 
giving to each one a written or printed notice of the time and place 
of meeting, at least four weeks previous to said meeting, by mailing 
the same direct to the recent post-office residence of each stock- 
holder, and said stockholders may vote at all times by proxy, or in 
person, at the said meeting, or at any other meeting which may be 
called thereafter ; it shall be the duty of the said stockholders, at the 
meeting so called as aforesaid, to elect by ballot three disinterested 
commissioners, whose duty it shall be to examine and select the 
most advantageous location for said college, and to report the result 
of their examination and selections to the said board of trustees 
Avithin three months after their appointment, and it shall be the 
duty of said trustees to call a meeting of said stockholders in a 
manner aforesaid, by giving the same notice both in time and man- 
ner as before expressed, and if the selection of said commissioners 
shall be approved by the majority of the said stockholders, the said 
trustees shall proceed to purchase the necessary lands, and make the 
necessary buildings upon the site so selected ; but if the majority of 
the said stockholders shall not ratify the selection of the said com- 
missioners, then it shall be the duty of the said trustees, by a vote of 
at least three-fifths, to proceed and make such location, and to pur- 
chase lands and erect buildings as aforesaid. 

§ 8. As soon ffs suitable accommodations are prepared for at least 
one hundred students, the said trustees shall organize the faculty of 
the said college by appointing a president, professors, teachers and 
other officers. It shall be the duty of the said trustees to so arrange 
the business and courses of instruction in said college, as to accom- 
plish in the best possible manner : 

1. The dissemination of practical science, including chemistry, 
geology, mineralogy and those sciences most immediately and vitally 
essential to agriculture and the useful arts, and to make ample pro- 
vision for instruction in the classics. 

2. To require that eveiy pupil and teacher shall devote some 
hours each of five days in each week (excluding Sunday for worship 
and Saturday for recreation,) to bona fide labor in some branch of 
productive industry. The number of hours, however, which such 
student and teacher shall be required to labor in each week, shall in 

2 



10 

no case exceed twenty, nor fall below ten, and eaeli student shall be 
credited with and ultimatel}'^ paid for the product of his labor, less 
the cost of qualifying him to perform it effectively. 

3. To have agriculture, with the various branches of manufactures, 
and the mechanic arts, systematically prosecuted within the college 
and its grounds, and as a part of its regular course ; and no student 
shall be permitted to graduate with honor until he pass a searching 
examination with regard to his proficiency in agriculture or some 
branch of manufacturing or mechanical industry, and every student 
shall be allowed ( with the advice and consent of his parents and 
guardians and the faculty ) to pursue such branches of learning as 
he may select, but the faculty shall implicitly require from each 
student a thorough mastery of those he may choose to follow, which 
shall be expressed in his diploma ; and any student under this con- 
dition may prosecute his duties for so many terms only as under 
parental guidance may be deemed expedient. 

4. These several foregoing subjections may be amended at all 
times by a majority vote of stockholders, except that the fundamental 
principles of finding work for and requiring of each pupil and teacher 
at least ten hours bona fide useful labor per week, and an earnest 
effort to master some industrial pursuits, shall be held irrevocable, 
except by a vote of all the stockholders taken by ayes and nays and 
the names of those voting duly recorded. 

§ 9. On the second "Wednesday in July, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and fifty-four, the first annual election of trustees 
shall be held at such convenient place as they may designate, of 
which election and the time and place thereof the said stockholders 
shall have at least thirty days' notice. The said trustees shall ap- 
point two inspectors of the said election, whose duty it shall be to 
preside thereat, and to receive and count the ballots, and declare 
the result : and the poll of such election shall be held open from ten 
o'clock in the forenoon until four o'clock in the afternoon : and said 
trustees so elected as aforesaid shall meet on the second Wednesday 
of August, at the place of holding the annual meeting, and the pre- 
sident and secretary of such board shall divide the said trustees into 
six classes, and proceed to prepare the ballots corresponding to the 
said six classes, and the secretary shall place them properly folded 
into a box, and each trustee shall draw therefrom one ballot, and the 
ballot having upon it the one, shall designate the first class, whose 



11 

term of service sliall expire in one year; and those having upon 
them two, shall designate the second class, whose term of service 
shall expire in two years ; and those having upon them three, shall 
be designated as the third class, whose tema of service shall expire in 
three years ; and those having upon them four, shall be designated 
as the fourth class, whose term of service shall expire in four years ; 
and those having upon them five, shall be designated as the fifth 
class, whose term of service shall expire in five years ; and those 
having upon them six, shall be designated as the sixth class, whose 
term of service shall expire in six years, and it shall be the duty of 
the stockholders annually thereafter to elect four trustees in the 
place of those whose term of service will so expire as aforesaid, and 
all vacancies shall be filled in such annual election in the several 
classes wherein they may have occurred. 

§ 10. Tliis corporation shall possess the powers and be subjected 
to the provisions and restrictions contained in the third title of the 
eighteenth chapter of the first part of the revised statutes. 

§ 2. This act shall take eff"ect immediately. 

Chapter 80 of Laws of 1857. 

Extracts from the By-Laws of the Trustees. 

1. The Board of Trustees of the People's College shall hold meet- 
ings on the second Wednesday of November, February, May and 
August, at ten o'clock, A. M., at such place as a quorum of the 
Board may direct. 

2. The Treasurer of the College shall give good and sufficient 
bonds, for the faithful performance of his duties. 

3. The election of officers of the Board shall take place at the 
annual meeting in August ; and the election shall be by ballot. 

4. The annual election of Trustees by the stockholders of the Col- 
lege shall be had at tlie time and place of the annual meeting. 

Officers and Trustees. 

AMOS BROWN, A. M., President, Havana. 
D. C. McCallum, Chairman of the Board, Owego. 
A. I. Wynkoop, Vice Chairman, Chemung. 
U. Howard, Secretary, Binghamton. 
1'. L. MiNKKR, Treasurer, Havana. 



12 

1st Class — George J. Pumpelly, Owego ; R. TLow&rd, Binffhamton ;■ 
T. R. Morgan, Binghamton ; W, H. Banks, Pine Valley^ 

2d Class — W, R. Judson, Mmira ; S. Robertson, Dryden ; T. C^ 
Peters, Darien ; Charles Lee, Penn Yan. 

3d Class — D. McCallum, Owego ; C. J. Cliatfield, Painted Post ; A. 
"W.Jackson, Binghamton; Horace Greeley, JVew- York: 

4th Class — Edward Tompkins, Binghamton ; J. H. Snell, PJlmira ; 
H. S. Randall, Cortlandville ; John Magee, Bath. 

5th Class — E. C. Frost, Havana ; Charles Cook, Havana ; Wash- 
ington Hunt, Lockport ; Gurdon Evans, Oioego ; A. I, 
Wynkoop, Chernung ; D. S, Dickinson, Binghamton. 

6th Class — W. T. Lawrence, Cayutaville ; David Rees, Owego ; 
Roswell Holden, Reading Centre ; S. S. Post, Jersey City, 

Executive Committee. — Hon. Charles Cook, Hon. William T. 
Lawrence, Col. E. C. Frost, A. L Wynkoop, Esq., W. H. Banks, 
Esq. 

Committee of Finance. — Hon. D.Reese, Col. Charles Lee, Ros- 
well Holden, Esq. 

Building Committee. — Hon. Charles Cook, Hon. D. C. McCal- 
xuM, Col. E. C. Frost, Col. Charles Lee, A. I. Wynkoop, Esq. 

Architect. — S. B. Elliott. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




